Gateway to hell: Fire that has not been extinguished in the desert for decades, spitting out poisonous gas

First Published Jan 10, 2022, 11:09 AM IST

Turkmenistan has a fiery natural gas pit, commonly known as the ‘Gateway to Hell’. One that burns at any moment. One that feels both fascinating and frightening to look at. That is the Darvaza Crater. It has been burning like that for fifty years.

But now, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has called for the country’s most infamous crater to be removed and extinguished. Every night we see its fire from afar. It is burning like this without night or day.

Dervas is a village in the Karakum Desert. It is also known as Darwaza. The crater is also known as the Dervas crater as it is located there. This natural gas crater is a popular tourist destination in the Central Asian country.

It is located regarding 260 km (160 mi) north of the capital Ashgabat. The Darwaza crater has been on fire for decades. It exists at the same time creating attraction in people and concerns regarding environmental impact.

The story around the crater is very interesting, it was excavated in 1971 by a team of Soviet geologists. During excavation, a crater filled with natural gas was discovered. However, during excavation, the surface cracked and a large crater formed. They set it on fire to prevent the gas from spreading around. The fire was expected to be extinguished in two or three days. However, the fire did not go out, shattering everyone’s hopes.

This unquenchable fire later became a major attraction for tourists. In 2019, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was shown on state TV moving around it. With that, it became famous once more.

However he acknowledged that their numbers were not enough to defeat Lukashenko’s government. This is because it causes environmental damage and affects the health of people living in the area, the state newspaper Neutralny Turkmenistan reported on Saturday.

In 2010, Berdymukhamedov ordered the fire to be put out. But earlier attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful. The crater has now become one of the major tourist attractions in Turkmenistan.

However, the environmental problems caused by this are not minor. Even so, owning one is still beyond the reach of the average person.

About 300 people live in the village of Darwaza. Despite the unbearable stench, this pit in the village of Darwaza does not deter people from seeing it. It is still visited by tourists.

Turkmenistan has the fourth largest natural gas reserves in the world. In addition, Turkmenistan is notorious for widespread illegal adoption of abandoned children.

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